TFT monitors use thin film transistor technology for fast refresh rates and better image quality. Dead pixels are common, but online reviews can help find reliable brands. A response rate of 16ms or less is recommended for multimedia use.
A TFT monitor uses thin film transistor technology in an LCD display. LCD monitors, also called flat panel displays, are replacing older cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in both televisions and computer displays. Almost all LCD monitors today use TFT technology.
The advantage of thin-film transistor technology is the separate tiny transistor for each pixel on the display. Because each transistor is so small, the amount of charge required to control it is also small. This allows the screen to refresh very quickly, as the image is repainted or refreshed several times per second.
Before TFT, passive matrix LCD displays could not keep up with fast moving images. A mouse dragged across the screen from, say, point A to point B would disappear between the two points. A TFT monitor can track the mouse, resulting in a display that can be used for video, gaming and all forms of multimedia.
A 17-inch TFT monitor has approximately 1.3 million pixels and 1.3 million transistors. This leaves a significant possibility for a bad transistor or two on the panel, and “dead pixels” are not uncommon. A dead pixel is a pixel whose transistor has failed, therefore creating no display image, so against a solid black background, for example, dead pixels will stand out as tiny red, white or blue dots. Most manufacturers won’t replace a monitor with fewer than 11 dead pixels. Many don’t have dead pixels, although even in those that do, they aren’t really noticeable unless they’re in a critical location on the screen.
There are only a handful of TFT factories that produce panels for all brands of monitors. Since there is a certain failure rate, considering how many transistors are on each panel, only a limited number of displays come out without dead pixels. A certain percentage have some, but not an unreasonable number, and other panels are unusable. Panels that have some dead pixels are often sold for use in discount models. Consumers, therefore, should read online feedback from shoppers to get an idea of the quality of particular brands. By analyzing the reviews for different brands, it’s easy to get an idea of which models have consistently good panels that rarely bring dead pixels.
A good TFT monitor offers crisp text, vibrant colors, and improved response time for multimedia applications. People interested in gaming, video editing, or other multimedia applications should look for a monitor with a response rate of 16ms or less.
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